What Makes a Team Great?

I've spent way too much time analyzing this year's Purdue squad...why they seem to be getting worse since early January, why this many 4-star players play like a 2-star team and why they simply don't compete at times.

I think the answer to this question has a ton of facets...but have said it before, continuity is the very base of all of team's problems.

All that said the ripple effects of one player's effect on the program have been costly and I'll tell you why.

A few years ago, when Kelsey Barlow was being recruited to Purdue, I went to watch him play to get a first-hand account of the player.  At that point, I didn't understand his recruitment.  He played lazy basketball...he didn't move on offense, was inconsistent on defense and didn't seem to use his length and athleticism effectively-enough on that level. But Painter liked the guy. He probably liked his ability to get under other people's skin...Ironically, that's part of the reason he's no longer on Purdue's team.

At BS, we liked that too...but just as Barlow pissed off IU fans with his antics his Freshman year, Barlow pissed off his teammates at Purdue. If you read him on Twitter, it's tough to tell at times if he's an evil genius, a troubled individual or just an immature kid...might be a little of each.  There's no doubt Barlow could have been very good (if not great) for Purdue had he developed differently...but hypotheticals don't matter...things are what they are.  Barlow didn't buy into Painter's philosophy and never was a fit.

After a few troubled years, Barlow was officially kicked off of the team one year ago this week. The void he left sent Painter scrambling to find another point guard to fill the void...one which he couldn't fill in time.  A few Seniors who were looking to transfer for their final year of eligibility didn't pan out...and this year, Purdue has had one true Freshman PG on the roster and a bunch of shooting guards in disguise trying to direct an offense that has no direction.

How important would another Senior been, especially a versatile, athletic point guard, been on this year's Purdue team? We don't really need to answer that question, do we?

But, Painter simply had to do what he did last winter.  The fallout from the tough decision left Barlow in transition as he sat out a year...and Purdue's program in transition as it had no identity.

Ronnie Johnson leads all Freshman in the nation in assists...that's a pretty good stat. Sure, he has a ton of turnovers and shoots at the wrong times...but he's a Freshman...one surrounded by an incomplete, discombobulated team.

Barlow's loss was and is important...but Barlow's dismissal was overdue. Painter couldn't have had a captain that continued to abandon the team when he was needed most...and more importantly, couldn't have a Senior creating disciples with the same philosophy.  The long-term effects of leaving a player, ANY player, on the roster for four years who is divisive, can kill a program.

The recruitment, signing and subsequent abridged career of one player was/is important...not because that guy was a super star, but because timing is everything.  Purdue's program needs to know what defines it as it moves forward. And everyone who is part of the program needs to be on-board with that definition.

So what makes a team great...or even good?
On paper, the team from '07/'08 was OK...but in three dimensions, they were pretty darned good.  Why?

Here are some things that I believe make teams great.  Nothing earth shattering...and I'm no rocket surgeon...these are just a few thoughts.

DEVELOPMENT
Hard work in the off-season makes a player better and helps build chemistry as everyone focuses on the same goal.

LEADERSHIP
Having players that define the team in positions of earned respect go a long way in making a team a force.  Whose team is it?  The answer to that question says a lot about a team.

BUYING IN
Do players believe the coaches plans and vision for the program? Are they executing these plans, not just in games, but during practice and off the court? Players need to feel like they're fortunate to be playing where they are, with whom they are, right now.

TALENT
Elite talent obviously covers up a ton of problems...but having talented people in the right places; in key areas, makes everyone else better.

CONTINUITY
Do the parts mesh? Much of chemistry is about time together- players that have played together and have been together become cohesive.  Teams that don't have history often aren't teams at all (what we've seen this year from Purdue).  Teams that have great continuity believe in the guy next to them and are willing to play hard for/with him.

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Look at the really-good teams in the nation...and those that are on the other side of the coin.  Teams like UNC and Kentucky have talent, but have a dearth of leadership...so they have no identity.  Leadership doesn't have to come from Juniors/Seniors (but that helps)...but it has to come from someplace; and a coach isn't enough.  Coaches need to put leaders in the position to succeed to help them be a focal point for the guys that need to develop.

Sorry...you probably didn't think you were coming to a motivational site, but this stuff has been rattling around my head for a bit and I wanted to put it down someplace.

HANDSOME!!! 2/21/12

Everything that's good is better after a long wait...and these handsome chaps are no different.

The boys are back...

And their guest, the eclectic, knowledgeable and handsome, Brendan Murphy joins the show...

The gents talk about the stretch run...

The departure of the enigmatic #12...

They all take a swallow of the bitter medicine that's in front of them...

And at the end of the day, find a way to find balance...

Mainly, by having TMill on to discuss the future.

So listen in, if you know what's decent, fantastic and handsome in this Purdue-centric world of ours...


NOW!!

Listen to internet radio with Boiled Sports on Blog Talk Radio

As The Barlow Turns

As we prepare to turn the page on the Kelsey Barlow Era at Purdue, we thought it would be worth looking back at the life and times in Old Gold and Black of a career that might be considered one of the more volatile at Purdue.

Kelsey came out of B-dowd's high school, so we watched him before he even arrived in God's Country.  In the wake of watching players like Keaton Grant and Chris Kramer, it was hard to believe Barlow fit the mold that Painter had created for his system and the guards that would play in it.  As a high school Senior, he didn't move a lot without the ball on the offensive side...and didn't play too much defense.  That was a hard pill to swallow -- we wondered if Barlow's attitude and selflessness would develop and in turn, his defense would come closer to resembling Purdue-style defense. As it turned out, we were right about his work ethic...but his athleticism coupled with a bit of nastiness was such a good combination, it could gloss over some of the other parts of his game that weren't up to par.

His impact was immediate as a freshman. He was the primary sixth man for that Sweet 16 team in '09-'10 and made the all-freshman team in the Big Ten. Kelsey's presence was noticed right away, obviously, but it was the breadth of his impact that had us all excited.

Barlow could score, create his own shot, rebound and dish the ball. He had a mean streak and we loved that about him, especially since we knew (or thought we knew) that Coach Painter and the upperclassmen would keep him in line, in terms of acting out a bit too much overall.

Kelsey's season-high in points during that season came in a road victory over Illinois, where he also had his first career start. The sky seemed to be the limit for a guy who, we kept reminding ourselves, was just a freshman.

In early February of that season, the Boilers traveled to their rival in Bloomington, where they hadn't won in about four years. Kelsey also started that game (over Lewis Jackson) and in 18 minutes scored 5 points to go with 4 boards, 3 assists and a steal.

But he'll be forever remembered for his infamous choke signal as the clock wound down and the Hoosiers were unable to take down the Boilers.

IU fans hated Barlow...that might have been one of his most redeeming qualities.

Never mind that the choke accusation didn't really make sense. Maybe the Hoosiers or their fans were talking a lot (imagine that), but the gesture created a firestorm of criticism (not from us, but from the fans of the program who elevated the always-respectful Bob Knight to godlike status) and Kelsey apologized. We kind of loved that he disliked IU enough to do this and again figured that he would be kept under control for the most part and that if this was the extent of his acting out, we would be fine with it.

Later that month, Rob Hummel injured his knee for the first time and a pall was cast over a season that saw the Boilers ranked in the single digits and having a shot at the #1 ranking in the nation. They climbed as high as #3 before falling back to Earth with a listless finish in the wake of Rob's injury, and hobbled into the NCAA tournament as a #4 seed (about two weeks after being ranked #3 in the nation and mere days after being bludgeoned in the Big Ten Tourney by a bad Minnesota team).

The Boilers regrouped, though, and gutted out wins over Siena and Texas A&M, setting up a showdown in the Sweet 16 with everyone's favorite enemy, Duke. In that game, Kelsey Barlow made a play on a Kyle Singler breakaway that had bdowd and I punching each other in the arm. Singler attempted a layup and Barlow came from seemingly nowhere, using his underrated closing speed, and pinned Singler's layup against the backboard. The Boilers would not triumph on that night, but Kelsey's drive and determination -- along with us getting to chat with his dad at halftime -- continued to make us think bright times were ahead for this talented young man. That game in Houston in March of 2010 would sadly be Kelsey's last NCAA tournament game.

Kelsey continued to be Purdue's sixth man throughout his sophomore season of '10-'11, showing on-and-off flashes of brilliance and keeping us excited for the potential he had if he could only develop some consistency. Clearly, there were also on-and-off issues with Kelsey's attitude and focus, as some games he would play very little as Coach Painter attempted to screw his head on straight.

He was rarely a high scorer and was not a viable outside shooting threat, but again, Kelsey did things that not many others could do. He ran the point effectively, he was hard to guard, he played the kind of exasperating defense Purdue teams are known for, and he had that mean streak. Barlow would enter a game with that mean-mug on and you just knew something was going to happen -- or he was going to try to MAKE it happen. One came, for example, as Purdue hosted Michigan State on the day GameDay was in town last January. Another, famously, came just recently as KB "posterized" Jared Sullinger. Kelsey would decide to wake the team and the crowd up and he would often succeed in doing so.

Other times, the selfish-looking (and remember, appearances don't mean it's fact) Barlow would return and have his minutes reduced. One moment that stands out for us here at BS is the JJ game winner against Penn State at home. We all remember the shot and how clutch JJ had become. I remember looking at the outstanding photograph of the game-winner by Dave Wegiel and noting first how up-and-ready Rob Hummel was....and then b-dowd pointed out another face on the bench; Barlow looking positively pissed off at life. Does that mean anything? Or was it just a moment captured by a photographer that is out of context and means nothing? We'll never really know.

The second consecutive NCAA tournament without Rob Hummel approached and the Boilers, while not 100% of the team we had hoped they'd be in 2011, looked pretty good, retaining a top ten ranking into the Big Ten Tournament. A whipping by MSU in Indy changed that as the Boilers rolled over in their first BTT game for the second straight year. Kelsey had but one point in that MSU game and generally did not look good, which was perhaps a harbinger of things to come.

Just a few days before the start of the NCAA tourney, Kelsey Barlow was mysteriously suspended for the duration of the season for conduct detrimental to the team. Rumors abounded, but the only thing sure-fire was that Kelsey had screwed up enough to be disallowed by the Purdue coaching staff from participating in the tournament.

Could Kelsey have helped stem the rising tide of the VCU cinderella story? Once again, we'll never know. I would have liked to see him try, though.

We assumed Kelsey was now done with the Purdue basketball program, as we couldn't see Coach Painter allowing him to continue to be a headache and, let's be honest, to be unreliable. Whatever he did to get suspended from the team in March 2011 signaled that Kelsey Barlow wasn't putting the team first at the most critical time of the season. That seemed like a cardinal sin for this program.

And yet there he was, back on the squad for the '11-'12 season, with the nebulous explanation that he was "on thin ice." What did that mean?  Zero tolerance? Unfortunately, we recently found out.

Both Kelsey and his father have spoken about the incident and it all appears to be something no more complicated than a guy in the wrong place at the wrong time who wasn't able to keep his cool. This team is tight and we like that, as we saw Ryne Smith step into a near-altercation during a game to back up Kelsey and in this came, it appears that DJ Byrd effectively took the fall for Barlow, with Rob Hummel acting as on-the-spot attorney.

So now Barlow is officially off the team and will presumably be lacing them up at another program in the future. That's too bad, really, as he comes from a good family and has simply made some bad judgment calls. However, fair or not, the decisions we make in certain key points in our lives are how we are judged.

How might things have been different throughout Kelsey Barlow's time at Purdue had he just made the right decisions at some of these key times? It doesn't really matter now, but the refrain is nonetheless the same again: we'll never know.

Byrdless Boilers Battle and lose to MSU 76-62

It's tough to beat MSU when you've got a full roster...it's tougher when a starter and sixth man aren't available.  The effects of this week's suspension and dismissal seemed pretty obvious, especially in the second half, but the guys who could play fought hard.

In the first half, the Spartans were having their way with the Boilers underneath.  Granted, it's a bit easier to dominate the offensive end when your bigs are allowed to throw high elbows and travel to get position.  After the second or third time Payne and Nix had mauled their way to the basket, Painter got very animated with this lousy officiating crew...I was pretty sure he'd earn himself a tech...but never did.  I think a tech would have been in order and might have been a good way to make the team understand he was doing everything he could do as they fought to overcome the long odds.  But it didn't happen, and it might not have mattered anyway.

After Hummel had a Hurculean first half, scoring 18 points, the Boilers led by three- 38-35.  Much of the first half the good guys were down by 3-5 points...but fought and clawed and scratched were on top after the first 20 minutes were complete, but the second half was a different story.

Purdue's ability to make the extra pass to set up the open shot, that we've seen the last few games, was gone.  Then, as our Boilers languished for around 7 minutes without a made shot from the floor, some old crap crept back in...missed layups and bunnies and a few missed free throws for good measure.  Not Hummel nor Smith, Jackson nor either Johnson was hitting shots...partially because of MSU's defense, but also because of poor shooting and shot selection.  Finally, Painter brought AJ in and he kind of went off.

A three, followed by another three and a drive that finished with a teardrop got MSU's lead down to single digits, but that was it.  After that, Purdue couldn't seem to get inside of ten points and MSU salted it away.

Hummel's game was a monster, in spite of awful shooting from three (1-9).  He finished with 24pts, 15rebs, 3ast and 3blks.  He was moving well, following his shot and fearless in the big fat trees.  Along with Hummel, AJ showed some why I had been so excited about the guy prior to the season- He finished with 10pts, a rebound, assist and steal.

Jackson played as tough as Hummel at times...selling out (as usual) and closing down passing lanes on the other end.  He finished with 15pts, 5ast, 2reb and 2stl.  Fellow Senior, Ryne Smith shot well at times and finished with 10 points...but had a couple forced threes during that drought in the second half...but in the first half he drove a few times like I've never seen and was effective in doing so.  Following the game, Smith, Jackson and Hummel were all asked about the suspensions and dismissal.  The most noteworthy response by far was Smiths-

"I think we're gonna come together as a team better...Honestly, I think it's addition by subtraction.  DJ's gonna come back in full force, he's a great player for us. Tell you one thing, when he comes back on Wednesday night, he's gonna come back full force...I'll tell you that much."

First off, I'm pretty sure Byrd is one of Smith's best friends on the team.  You could tell before the game by Byrd's body language that he was pretty pissed to be in the situation he had put himself in- Good.  He messed up, regardless of the reason or intention (which I don't fully know or understand), and he deserved to be suspended. His suspension hurt his team.  I hope he comes back looking to make up for lost time on the court.

I like Byrd a lot...I think he's a pretty good guy, and I think his punishment fit crime.  Now he can move on and hopefully help his teammates by earning a spot in the tournament and doing a bit of damage.

On the other hand, Smith also referenced Barlow's dismissal as "addition by subtraction." This pissed a lot of people off on the message boards and on Twitter.  I don't have a problem with it.  Barlow is no longer his teammate and has clearly been a massive distraction for at least two seasons.  I'm saddened for his family...but he also got what he deserved...in fact, I think he was given too much grace the more I hear about what he had done in the past year off the court.  I have no reason to believe he can't go on to do something noteworthy for another program as he is very talented...but I hope he doesn't just go someplace that doesn't care about his insurrections. Instead, I hope he actually sees that his dumb decisions have consequences...He surely hasn't gotten to that understanding yet.

Now, is Smith's assessment that this team will be better without Barlow accurate? If I had to judge by what I saw today, I'd say no.  Barlow had been playing great basketball and was a key cog to the team's brief resurgence.  But, the season is not over and there are at least four more games left.  I think there's a lot to be said about team chemistry- who knows what Barlow's departure will do for the team.

Guys like LewJack, TJohn and Hart were all pretty good friends with Barlow, from what I understand...so while some might feel better about Barlow's antics no longer being a part of the team, others still might just miss their friend.  We'll have to see how it plays out.

What we did see today, once again, is that when this team is playing well, they can play with anyone...in spite of glaring weaknesses.  Carroll, Hummel, Marcius and Lawson all struggled with the size and strength of MSU.  The good news is, in the next three games, our Boilers won't play anyone with a frontcourt like that again. But the up and down Wolverines at home on Senior night will be a bit of a mother, I'm sure.

Next up though, Matty welcomes back Byrd to the team as the Boilers host Nebraska at 6:30 on Wednesday.  Nothing's a gimme, but Purdue must win the games they should and maybe beat someone they're not supposed to in order to get into the dance.

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Quick note to the Paint Crew- First off, those of you that were there today were great, as usual. BUT, there seemed to be a ton of PCers that were AWOL.  That kind of stinks...and I expect more from you guys.  Rally the troops and fill the section for the last two games- Rob, Ryne and Lew deserve it.  Next, I hear the B1G told you guys not to single out specific players (i.e. Dawson).  Screw that. Dawson singled himself out the last time Purdue played them as well as during his recruiting process and deserves what he gets.


If Delany and co. want players not to be called out, they should make sure there's a deterrent for players not to do as he did in E Lansing.  Instead, they rely on you guys to do that.  Bull crap.

And There You Have It.

Barlow Done at Purdue

So just as this Purdue team was starting to gain traction for the first time all season, stupidity strikes, and the end result is a starter/sixth man is no longer on the team and another is suspended.

Matt Painter did the right thing here...and I'm sure this is something he was hoping to never have to do.  He had given Barlow a small margin for error following his problems and subsequent suspension last season...so last night's fight, that seems to have stemmed from Barlow acting like a hot head, ends with Byrd suspended and Barlow booted.

MSU manhandled a full-strength, but fatigued, Purdue squad last month...and to beat them, Purdue would have greatly-benefitted from everyone being available and focused on the job at hand.  Instead, you have a bunch of players that have been given the gag order from Painter about last night's incident, who are surely thinking about what went down, trying to get back to the job at hand- beating the seventh-best team in America.

With the disciplinary action, LewJack, TJohn, Smith, AJ and Hart will have to play good, no, great games to beat MSU...as will the rest of their teammates.

"Are you F-ing Serious that this is happening...Again?"